Flashback: WE Architecture + Friis & Moltke's winning ZIBAT Roskilde Campus scheme

Copenhagen-based WE Architecture and Friis & Moltke Architects from Aarhus had a clear-cut concept that ultimately won them the redesign of the Zealand Institute of Business and Technology (Erhvervsakademi Sjælland)'s Roskilde Campus in Denmark. The 10,000m2 scheme comprises a restoration and 4,000 m2 of new space that will accommodate classrooms, a canteen, administration, and various educational spaces. Once built, the new building will house approximately 1,500 students in marketing and computer science.

Before winning the competition this past August, WE Architecture's team was one of five pre-qualified participants. In designing their proposal, the winning team focused on three core concepts that are essential to any learning facility for a large number of students: Community, Respect, and Durability.

Read on for more about the scheme from the architects.

Project description:

“The communal feeling is a keyword in the daily life and work of both students and staff. The professional and social community is influenced by the physical environment. The proposal contributes to the many different communities by creating flexible physical environments. This includes flexible spaces for diverse activities such as larger events, informal meetings, intimate conversations, breaks, parties, as well as creative and social interaction across fields of studies.”

“The project aims to ‘respect’ the needs for all users of the building both larger groups and individuals. We all learn differently and have different requirements for the physical space. The building allows for a great variety of learning environments; a need which is predicted to increase in the future. 

The campus must be more than just able to withstand use. It should be flexible in the sense of being able to accommodate a variety of learning cultures and needs, both in terms of current requirements and to accommodate future needs.”

“The sculpture contains service functions and serves as staircase and furniture creating room for social interaction and smaller meetings. The pavilion appears as a light glass structure containing cantina and auditorium. The surrounding landscape continues into the pavilion and creates several elevated planes in the main space. The different plateaus in the canteen creates a variation of spaces for different types of events.”

“The building consists of the 3 main elements. The crown, the sculpture and the pavilion. The crown refers in its materiality to the existing buildings on the campus and contains the many class rooms enclosing the large atrium. An elegant roof construction ensures a soft and natural light that makes it comfortable to work in the building.

The sculpture contains service functions and serves as staircase and furniture creating room for social interaction and smaller meetings.”

“The pavilion appears as a light glass structure containing cantina and auditorium. The surrounding landscape continues into the pavilion and creates several elevated planes in the main space. The different plateaus in the canteen creates a variation of spaces for different types of events.”

You can find project drawings in the gallery below.

Project details:

Name of project: Erhvervsakademi Sjælland – Roskilde Campus
Assignment: Invited competition
Type: Educational Campus
Client: Erhvervsakademiet Sjælland
Size: 10.000 m2 restorations and 4000 m2 new building construction
Location and area: Roskilde, Denmark
Status: Winner of competition, ongoing
Budget: 138 million DKK
Architects: WE Architecture, Friis & Moltke Architects
Engineers: Alectia
Contractor: H. Skjøde Knudsen
Team: Marc Jay, Julie Schmidt-Nielsen, Morten Breinholt Christensen, Kasper Munk, Corrado Galasso, Alexandra Ramos, Laura Ravier, Simon Skriver, Xinyuan Lin

All images and quoted text courtesy of WE Architecture + Friis & Moltke Architects.